judithklee's Journal

Cottonmouths, timber rattlers, rat snakes (I know they're not dangerous, but still!), milk snakes, and now an unidentified baby snake with a triangular head that somehow got INSIDE.
What is it, the year of the snake?! I thought it was the year of the arachnids!
This is the most snake sightings I have ever had in a single year. Whoa.

And by the way, the baby snake got away.

But come to think of it, all the snake sightings happened within 2 WEEKS of each other.
Hmm.

Okay, so we were sitting at the table, about to eat.
Mom and I look through the window, at about the same time.
I see Minnie, a slightly-feral Jack Russel/Chihuahua mix, on our hill, looking straight at us, wagging her tail. I was about to comment on her wagging tail, and then Mom interrupts.
She saw the SNAKE right in front of Minnie. So my brother runs for his gun, and the rest of us run out the door. Mom yells something, but all I hear is the beginning of "Timber".
I run for the phone so we can take some pictures and for some treats for Minnie.
I come back, 6 or 7 shots later.
The snake is dead, and we confirm that Minnie was indeed blocking a TIMBER RATTLESNAKE from 'her' (actually mine, but she doesn't seem to think so) chickens.
She was risking a venomous bite just for them, and us.
I'm glad we looked out the window.
So, am I the only one who is SO ready for the end of snake season?!?!

Okay, it was early... about 7:15, and I went around our big outside table, looking for lizards. What I got tells me why there are none. I heard a hiss and looked down. Whoooo--freeze. A slithering, dark-colored snake--the first thing I saw was a triangular head and a white mouth as it hissed at me, 2 inches from my bare leg. I got away from there, fast.
Well, fast forward a hurried telling of the situation and 13 bullets from my brother.
So it's dead. A cottonmouth, according to the internet.
But everything's okay now.

Okay, so it was about to bust out raining, and we have goats in the pasture that can't be in the rain so I was walking the pond rim, watching for droplets. Well, about that time, a few yards from where I was standing, pops up a fist-sized thing that looks like a turtle head. My first thought is "Whoa--back up, it's a Snapper."
But then this thing starts vibrating and bobbing like CRAZY. I'm horrified 'cause, well, WHAT ON EARTH IS THAT THING--TURTLES DON'T MOVE LIKE THAT!!!
It continues for a few seconds and disappears, and then the pond goes wild with fish movement, and then everything disappears in a blanket of grey as the wind nearly knocks me off my feet, and then it starts a rapid, tiny-droplet sprinkle and I go off to get the goats in.
What on EARTH WAS THAT THING? I told my Mom and her reaction pretty much matches mine. She said she'd never even HEARD of ANYTHING like that.
So one thing's for sure....That's very mysterious. Maybe just a....fish???
Well, guess who's gonna keep a sharp eye out for some pond monsters on her pond-side musings now. Just guess.
So if you know what it was, please tell me.
I'll update if I see anything else.

I found some white foamy stuff around the grass I put in....I know that snails release white frothy foam when they are stressed or scared, but I don't see why they would be either; nothing has happened to them. I'm thinking possibly...eggs? Nah, my snails are too small for reproduction. Maybe my cat got in there and scared them...?
Any ideas?

But anyway, I haven't seen my snails. I wonder if they somehow escaped....but if they escaped, they wouldn't be able to leave foam, right?!

My snails are happily hidden in their natural habitat. I misted the terrarium with a spray bottle. I still cannot find them.
Maybe when they get a bit bigger?

I found 7 baby garden snails in my kitchen. So, I got a glass terrarium and made a nice little habitat for them with dirt, leaves, and some grass. I spritzed it a bit with water in a spray bottle and put them in. Tiny, less than a centimeter long, but more active (and seemingly curious) than I'd imagined, or at least for snails.
They all disappeared under the leaf-litter and I think they are satisfied.
I intend to record each day's accomplishments for these little snails, and I wonder;
How big will they get?
And I also wonder...
How am I going to be able to actually FIND them, to track their growth?!